A wall is built up from ground level in a number of layers or courses of bricks with the bricklayer spreading a layer of mortar along the top of each course of bricks and placing another course of bricks on the layer of mortar. This application of mortar, usually by means of a trowel, is extremely messy and wasteful. Usually excess mortar falls away on each side of the wall. Furthermore, it is relatively difficult to evenly spread the mortar to retain a level course of bricks and the bricklayer needs to spend time embedding in and levelling each brick on the mortar. Also pointing is required to remove excess mortar and give a finished face to the mortar between the bricks. Therefore there is a considerable wastage of mortar, and time spent in cleaning up the mortar joints during building of the wall and in cleaning up the waste mortar which falls away during the wall building.
A number of bricklaying aids have been previously proposed. For example, British Patent Specification No. 2321271 discloses a bricklaying aid which sits on top of a wall to form a rectangular frame having sides which sit along opposite sides of the wall for applying a measured amount of mortar onto the top of the all between the sides of the frame. British Patent Specification No. 1538803 describes a bricklaying tool for controlling the spread and amount of mortar applied to the joints between bricks. The tool has an L-shaped frame for applying a measured amount of mortar along a top face of a wall and against an end face of a previously laid brick on top of the wall. U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,526 discloses a template for application of mortar onto a top surface of pre-cast hollow concrete blocks which have a pair of voids extending between a top and a bottom of the block. The template is seated on top of the block and has panels which cover the voids and channels for applying a layer of mortar along the top edges of the block side walls, around the void and in the middle of the block top face between the voids. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,503 there is disclosed a bricklaying device having a rectangular frame for placing on a previously laid course of bricks to define a trough for forming a layer of mortar on top of the bricks ready to receive the next layer of bricks.
The various prior art devices have not been entirely satisfactory and it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bricklaying tool which is easy to use, particularly for amateur or DIY builders, and is cheap to manufacture.